Visiting the Land of Ann Cleeves' Shetland Island Quartet

Ann Cleeves' Shetland Island Quartet is a series of books where the land plays such an important part that it's almost like a character. I thought you might like to watch a short video showing the beauty of the Shetland Islands. My review of Red Bones follows in the next post down.

AA Leisure Guides: Yorkshire Dales

Title: AA Leisure Guides: Yorkshire Dales
Author: Mike Gerrard
ISBN: 9780749550233, AA Publishing, 2008
Genre: Travel
Rating: A

First Line: With a huge National Park at its core, the Yorkshire Dales is a region of exquisite beauty, and a surprising amount of variety.

A drive through the Yorkshire Dales on the way to Glasgow, Scotland, was one of the highlights of our last trip to the UK. The Dales are beautiful, and I'm planning to explore them more on our next trip, which is the reason why I bought this guide.

The first thing I noticed is that it's spiral-bound, and that makes it much more useful as a tool when you're traveling. The next thing I noticed was the beautiful photography, but in this day and age it would be rather silly to publish a travel guide with rubbish photos! It wasn't until I actually began reading it that I became fascinated.

This book is filled with villages to visit, walks to take, routes for bicycle tours and for driving in a car. Enough local history is given to whet your appetite, the market towns are listed as well as the days of the week the markets are open for business. And after all that walking and bicycling, all the best pubs are listed as well.


Besides the information about shops and pubs, I loved pouring over the maps of the walks that are available in each area. Distances, how many stiles you have to cross, slippery places where you need to be careful, car parks, approximate times that it will take to complete each walk...it's all there in a very readable style.

I have to admit that my copy is now littered with bright orange Post-It flags, and I'll be using this information when making plans for our next journey across the pond. If you're planning on traveling through the Yorkshire Dales, this book is an excellent resource.

Review-- The National Trust Handbook 2009

Title: The National Trust Handbook for Members and Visitors 2009
Editor: Lucy Peel
ISBN: 9780707804071/ The National Trust, 2009
Genre: Travel
Rating: A

First Line: In 1895 three Victorian philanthropists, worried about the impact of uncontrolled development and industrialisation, set up the National Trust.

Do any of you have a book that is a self-contained wish list? A book that, when you open it and begin turning the pages, your eyes light up and your heart beats a little faster? A book that contains page after page of things you just have to see for yourself? I feel this way about each new edition of The National Trust Handbook.

I've wanted to travel to the UK since I was eight years old. I never thought I would get there until serendipity struck and I married an Englishman seven years ago. I have since been to the UK twice, and let me tell you, it's a treat when your companion is not only your soul mate, but a seasoned UK driver! Before our first trip, I learned of the Royal Oak Foundation, which calls itself "Americans in Alliance with the National Trust of England, Wales and Northern Ireland." Among the many perks of Royal Oak membership is free entry to all National Trust sites, a free parking sticker for your vehicle, and a copy of The National Trust Handbook. Needless to say, Denis and I became members, and we haven't regretted it!

The book is divided into various sections of the country, and is filled with photos and descriptions of each National Trust site.


There are rows of little symbols which are confusing at first, but I quickly learned the ones which were the most important to me. Hours of operation, facilities available, available modes of transportation, driving directions, other National Trust sites in the area...they're all in the handbook to make trip planning easy.

If you're planning a trip to the UK and like history, architecture, gardens and nature walks, one of the best items you can obtain is a copy of this book!

REVIEW: Ghosts & Gravestones of Haworth

Title: Ghosts & Gravestones of Haworth
Author: Philip Lister
ISBN: 0752439588/ Tempus Publishing, 2006
History
Rating: B

First Line: For over 700 years folks have settled in Haworth, on the steepest of Yorkshire's hillsides.

Grandson of Haworth's former village bobby, author Philip Lister is a popular area tour guide, and his knowledge and humor shine through in this slim volume. I enjoyed my visit to Haworth so much that I was determined to buy a souvenir at the Bronte Parsonage gift shop. Being a rabid bookaholic, Ghosts & Gravestones of Haworth is what I chose to buy.

Haworth is world famous as being the home of literary giants Anne, Charlotte and Emily Bronte. It is quite an atmospheric place to visit.

Haworth

The first part of the book covers many of the interesting buildings in this village and their history: the pubs, the apothecary and its strange decoctions, the inns, and the homes of the more prominent families, as well as a family of area clockmakers and the home of the last hand loom weaver in Haworth. Lister packs lots of interesting bits of trivia in these pages along with all the photographs.

The book then turns to the Bronte Parsonage, St. Michael's Church, and the surrounding graveyard, which is estimated to hold 40,000 "inhabitants". As photogenic and fascinating as the village of Haworth is, I found St. Michael's and the graveyard to be the highlights of my visit.

St. Michael's, Haworth

The parliament of rooks with their endless melancholy cries circling above the trees at the parsonage, the bright splashes of yellow daffodils at St. Michael's, and the green-tinged gravestones crammed higgledy-piggledy all made me wonder what it would be like to be a Bronte growing up here. Lister brought all this back forcefully as I read about the stone masons and looked at the photographs of their art.

Haworth's Cemetery

Lister's humor made me laugh out loud more than once, particularly in two places. In the first he describes using his book during a do-it-yourself walking tour. He suggests taking along a rope and lantern. Why? In many cemeteries, people are buried up to three deep. In Haworth Cemetery, they're buried up to ten deep, and it's not unknown for tourists to step in the wrong place and fall in a hole that suddenly opens up beneath their feet. Lister advises that the rope be used to lower down the lantern so that the victim has light to read his book by until the Cave Rescue Team arrives.

At the back of the book, the author includes some humorous "local recipes" including A Parliament of Rooks Pie and Squirrel Burgers on Warm Toast Fingers. If you are planning a visit to Haworth, this book would be an excellent guide book as you walk the streets of the village. Even if you aren't anticipating a trip there, it's a wonderful example of armchair travel!